TSG Hoffenheim

Traditionally a gymnastics oriented club, TSG saw the light in the 1990s
and finally decided to move to the superior sport of football, and began a
quick climb up the ladder into respectability - but not without jealousy and contraversy.

The club was founded in 1899 as TV Hoffenheim, with about 20
members who hung out in the local pubs "Zum Engel" and "Zum Rössel".
Unfortunately, when they weren't drinking, they wasted all their time
jumping up and down like most gymnasts. They were tolerated by
their "big-city" brethren from Sinsheim, and funds donated from
them enabled the club to get a flag. Luckily a soccer club, FV
Hoffenheim was founded in 1921. Nevertheless, they toiled in
obscurity until WWII. The two merged in 1945 to become TSG.

Despite a few decent amateur seasons, things weren't particularily
successful.
By 1990, the club was in tatters, as they had just been relegated into the
dumps of the A-Klasse. But it was then then that a home-town-boy-made-good
entered the picture. Dietmar Hopp had played for the blue and whites as a
youth, before he went on to bigger and better things: namely he was
co-founder of international software giant SAP. He got involved with the
club "after a 27 year absence". His legendary phone-call to the club
president ("Things can't continue this way. I want to help.") started a
climb back into respectability and the best years of TSG football.

However, unlike many rich sponsors, Hopp has been more concerned with a long term devlopment plan to move
Hoffeheim up the ladder. The club has generally not made spectacular purchases of players, but rather
attempted to build from the ground up, and especially strengthen the youth system. By 2006, the club was
ready for some "bigger moves", but again, the money was first spent on structure rather than players:
Ralf Rangnick, a head coach with Bundesliga experience, was chosen to lead the team into the 2.Liga.
Overall, the goal was to move the club into the Bundesliga, and the stunning fact was that they were able to make it in
only two years!

At the start of the 1st Bundesliga season, Hoffenheim took the Bundesliga by storm. The squad played aggressive attacking
football and soon topped the table, holding it at winterbreak. But then in a meaningless friendly, sensational striker
Vedad Ibisevic (18 goals in 17 games) suffered a season ending injury, and at the restart, Hoffenheim was going
nowhere. They did put in a final spurt to finish a respectable 7th, and certainly played attractive football.

Over the next couple of years, Hoffenheim drifted as new coaches failed to find the correct formula that ralf Rangnick had brought, and
Hopp's money was spent wastefully. Hopp then turned off the money spigot, and Hoffenheim began to slide. In 2012, they only survived by
winning the relegation playoff. However, a new young coach, markus Gisdol, started bringing in youth players, and Hoffenheim surprised in
2014 by being quite respectable, and playing attractive football to boot.

Full Name

Turn -und Sportgemeinschaft Hoffenheim 1899 e.V.

City

Sinsheim (Baden-Württemberg). Pop:
35,000 (2004). The
village of Hoffenheim
has about 3,300 folks, and is a couple of miles north. You might consider this club actually the flagship
for Heidelberg.

Address

Silbergasse 45, 74889 Sinsheim-Hoffenheim
Phone: (0 7261) 40220

Colors

Blue jersey, white shorts, blue socks.

Nickname

Stadium

Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion. Capacity: 5,000 (1,620 seats).
Built in 1999 by TSG's no.1 fan, has floodlights and an artificial turf
practice field next door. Well, actually, a new stadium, the Rhein-Neckar-Arena (capacity: 30,500) was
built in 2009 in nearby Sinsheim. In the first Bundesliga season, Hoffenheim played in nearby Mannheim until the new stadium opened.